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Super Junior
Super Junior (Korean: 슈퍼주니어), often referred to as SJ or SuJu (슈주), is a popular boy group from South Korea formed by SM Entertainment in 2005. With a total of 13 members, they are one of the largest boy bands in the world. The group consists of Leeteuk (leader), Heechul, Hankyung, Yesung, Kangin, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook, Kibum,and Kyuhyun. The only Chinese member, Han Geng, was chosen from three thousand applicants via auditions held in China by SM Entertainment in 2001. As of 2010, only 10 members are active, due to Han Geng's ongoing lawsuit against SM Entertainment, the personal activities of Kibum in acting, and Kang-in's leave of absence for mandatory military service.However, the remaining members have insisted that they are still part of the group. Super Junior has released and contributed in 20 different kinds of records with varying degrees of success.Over the years, they have been divided into smaller sub groups, simultaneously targeting different music industries and audiences. Largely due to Super Junior's success as entertainers, other Korean entertainment managements began to train their music groups in other areas of entertainment, such as acting and hosting.In addition to their commercial success, Super Junior has earned seven music awards from the M.net Asian Music Awards, eleven from the Golden Disk Awards, and is the second singing group to win Favorite Artist Korea at the 2008 MTV Asia Awards after JTL (Consist of Jang Woo Hyuk, Tony An and Lee Jae Won of H.O.T) in 2003. Music History Pre-Debut Korean talent agency and record label SM Entertainment has been holding annual auditions to scout new talents that complemented the success of pop groups H.O.T, S.E.S, and Shinhwa, all of which were created by SM founder Soo-Man Lee in the mid 1990s.Leeteuk and Eunhyuk were the first two members of the group to be recruited in 2000 under SM's Starlight Casting System in Seoul. In 2001, the company held their first overseas casting auditions and discovered Han Geng in Beijing, who was chosen among three thousand applicants.That same year, Yesung was discovered under Seoul's casting system. Sungmin and Donghae were also selected to be trainees after their appearance in an SM-sponsored contest. In 2002, Heechul and Kangin were recruited along with Kibum, who was discovered in Los Angeles. Siwon was recruited in 2003 and Ryeowook in 2004, in which the later was discovered through the Chin Chin Youth Festival singing competition.In 2005, Shindong was selected. The last member, Cho Kyuhyun,was then discovered after he won third place at the Chin Chin Singing Competition in 2005. Not long after boy band TVXQ's debut in 2003, news about Lee's unprecedented plans of forming another boy band quickly spread on the Internet. In early 2005, Lee confirmed the news and announced that an all-boy project group of twelve members would debut near the end of the year, promoting this singing group to be "The Gateway to Stardom of Asia."Lee announced that that most members in this group were chosen because of their performing experiences as actors, MCs, models, and radio hosts prior debut. Heechul and Kibum were already established entertainers, and most of the other members had already made various kinds of appearances on television and media.Highly inspired by the rotational concept of Japan's girl group Morning Musume, this group would also experience line-up changes, with new members replacing some selected members every year to keep the group constantly young and all-rounded. This concept was then newly introduced to the K-pop market. For a while the group was rumored to be called O.V.E.R, the acronym for "Obey the Voice for Each Rhythm."However, before the group settled with their current name, SM simply referred to them as Junior, a representation of the members' young ages when they first became SM trainees.After the members' showcased their different talents to the company at a picnic, the company finalized their concept name to Super Junior. The group thereafter became officially Super Junior 05, the first generation of Super Junior. Super Junior 05 made their pre-debut on the Korean channel Mnet on September 11, 2005.At the showcase, they performed various styles of hip hop dancing. The group danced to B2K's "Take It To The Floor." Han Geng, Eunhyuk, and Donghae also performed a separate dance away from the group, dancing to Usher's "Caught Up." However, the performance did not air on television until May 16, 2006 as a segment in the Super Junior Show, the group's first television documentary. The Super Junior Project Super Junior 05 debuted on SBS's music program Popular Song on November 6, 2005, performing their first single, "TWINS (Knock Out)." A digital single with "TWINS (Knock Out)", "You are the one", and three additional tracks were released online on November 8. A physical CD single was scheduled to be released the following week but a more complete album, SuperJunior05 (TWINS), was released on December 6, 2005 instead. Their debut album sold 28,536 copies in the first month of release and debuted at #3 in the monthly chart of December 2005.In that same month, they released "Show Me Your Love," a collaboration single with TVXQ. "Show Me Your Love" became the best-selling record of December 2005, selling 49,945 copies that month. In February 2006, Super Junior 05 began performances for "Miracle", the second promotional single from their debut album. "Miracle" was the group's first single to peak #1 in online music charts of South Korea as well as the music charts of Thailand, drawing interest from international markets.As promotions for "Miracle" came to an end, SM Entertainment began selecting new members for Super Junior's second line-up project, Super Junior 06. The company even prepared a list of chosen members that were to graduate from the group. However, no members were taken out and a thirteenth member was added instead in May 2006. The line-up project has been abandoned since then, and the group became known as just Super Junior, without the suffix "05". Breakthrough Success On May 23, 2006, SM Entertainment revealed the thirteenth member Kyuhyun, who was discovered through a singing competition in 2005. They released their single "U" online for free download on May 25, 2006 in their official website. "U" had over 400,000 downloads within five hours of release and it ultimately exceeded 1.7 million downloads, crashing the server.The physical single of "U" with a total of three tracks was released on June 6, 2006, eventually selling over 81,000 units.The single became one of Korea's most popular songs of the year, yielding #1 spots for five consecutive weeks on two of Korea's top music programs.By the end of the year, Super Junior collected over seven awards in five of South Korea's top music award ceremonies, winning the title as Best New Group of 2006. Super Junior's first sub-unit, the ballad-singing trio Super Junior-K.R.Y., debuted on November 5, 2006 with a performance of Hyena theme song "The One I Love" on KBS music program Music Bank.A second sub-unit arrived in February 2007 called Super Junior-T. The trot-singing group released their first single "Rokkugo" in February 23, 2007 and made a debut performance on Popular Songs two days later. Super Junior's second official album was intended for a late 2006 release, but due to several accidental setbacks, Don't Don was not released until September 20, 2007.Within the first three days of release, offline album sales for Don't Don passed the 11,000 unit mark, debuting as #1 in all available offline charts. It finished the September monthly album sales as #1. 60,000 units were shipped by the first week of release and additional copies were printed.Although Don't Don received rather bland reviews from critics, the album sold more than 160,000 copies by the end of the year, becoming the second best-selling record of 2007.The album also found success in Taiwan; it broke the record for being the highest ranked Korean album on the G-music Combo Billboard Chart, surpassing the albums of TVXQ and Shinhwa. Super Junior's album also ranked above Taiwanese boy band K One, whose album debuted at #6. Supported by the release of Don't Don, Super Junior was nominated in seven separate categories at the 2007 M.NET/KM Music Festival that was held on November 17, 2007. Super Junior won three of those categories including "Netizen Choice Award" and "Mobile Popularity", being the biggest winner of the night. The group also won "Best Artist of the Year" (Daesang), termed by many as the highest recognition of the ceremony.Super Junior collected two more awards on December 14, 2007 at the 2007 Golden Disk Awards.Although defeated by SG Wannabe in winning the "Daesang", Super Junior won a "Bonsang" and the "TPL Anycall Popularity Award", which were reported as expected wins for the group by the media after the success of Don't Don. Beyond Korea On October 2, 2007, SM Entertainment announced a third Super Junior sub-unit Super Junior-M, a subgroup designated for the Chinese market.While the creation of the subgroup created a brief controversy between the fans and the management,Super Junior-M became a phenomenal success in China, having the opportunity to have two sold-out concerts in Hong Kong,top weekly ratings with their appearance on variety programs, and becoming the idol group with the most endorsement contracts in China.With the absence of almost half of the members in Korea, a fourth Super Junior sub-unit was created that same year to prevent Super Junior from disappearing in the Korean music industry. With five members from Super Junior-T and Yesung, they formed the subgroup, Super Junior-Happy. Super Junior-Happy released the EP Cooking? Cooking! on June 5, 2008, and promotions ended on September 7, lasting for four months. In November 2008, Super Junior-T returned, this time as a singing group in Japan, called SuperJunior-TxMoeyan; this group added Moeyan, a famous two-woman comedy group in Japan. "ROCK&GO", a Japanese-language version of "Rokuko", debuted at #19 on the Oricon Daily Charts and jumped to #2 three days later. Super Junior's first major tour, Super Show, commenced on February 22, 2008 in Seoul.The tour covered three countries and had shows on six different cities, including Bangkok, Shanghai, and Beijing.From July 8 to July 9, 2008, Super Junior held their first fan meeting in Japan, at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, as a celebration for the grand opening of their official Japanese Homepage, which was launched on April 1, 2008.12,000 tickets to the fanmeeting were all sold out in several days. The group released a compiled Japan single the following day, entitled "U/TWINS", which includes the Japanese version of "U" in the limited release, to complement the event. The single peaked at #4 on Japan's Oricon Daily Chart in its first day of release, and dropped down to only four places in its second. The single broke a new record for being the first Korean single to have made within top 10 on Japan's Oricon Weekly Chart.On August 2, 2008, Super Junior expanded their routes to Genting Highlands, Malaysia, being one of the top guest performers at the MTV Asia Awards 2008 along with other international performing artists such as OneRepublic and the Jabbawockeez.They are the third SM artist to win Favorite Artist Korea at the MTV Asia Awards after Kangta of H.O.T and BoA, and the second musical group to win the award after JTL in 2008. Super Junior's third album, Sorry, Sorry, was released on March 12, 2009 with acclaimed reviews. The title single of the album, "Sorry, Sorry" was digitally released on March 9, 2009. In less than a week after preorders were announced, over 150,000 copies were pre-ordered. Sorry, Sorry was their first album to debut at #1 on the Hanteo Charts, and it sold over 29,000 copies the first day, defeating Seo Taiji's record of 25,000.Promotions for the album started March 13 with the performance of "Sorry, Sorry" and "Why I Like You" on Music Bank.Two weeks later, "Sorry, Sorry" became the number one song of the week on the same program.During the group's performance on music program Popular Songs on March 15, ratings went up to as high as 14%, the highest in recent years. From March to May, "Sorry, Sorry" collected a total of ten #1 awards with consecutive wins in Korea, having the single becoming a national and international success.After only a month of release, the album became South Korea's best-selling album of 2009. Sorry, Sorry was also a critically and commercially successful hit in other Asian countries, opting the group to become the only overseas representative for the second time at Taiwan's annual Golden Melody Awards. "Sorry, Sorry" was also #1 for a record-breaking 33 weeks in Taiwan.Sorry, Sorry was a best-selling Korean-language album in Taiwan,Thailand, China, and the Philippines, in which the latter listed the album to be the first K-pop album to reach #1 in music charts from the country.Super Junior won three awards in the 1st MNET Asian Music Awards - Overseas Viewers Award, Mobile Popularity Award and CGV Popularity Award despite not attending. Super Junior's Sorry, Sorry won Daesang at the 2009 Golden Disk Awards. Artistry Musical Style As a whole, Super Junior has released four studio albums and one physical single, including occasional contribution to drama soundtracks. They are acclaimed for their vocal harmonization and unison as each member contributes a different voice range in their music. Leeteuk, Heechul, Hangeng, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Donghae, and Ryeowook are all tenors. Yesung, Kangin, and Siwon are baritones. Shindong, Kibum, and Kyuhyun sing in bass.Some members are credited for their vocal belting techniques. Super Junior works closely with Young Jin Yoo, who has produced and arranged most of the group's promotional singles since debut. Yoo's also known for creating the renowned SMP style, a genre that includes a balanced infusion of rock, R&B, and rap, with complementing musical elements such as the electric guitar, bass, and other different percussion instruments.Super Junior has prominently used this SMP style in Don't Don. Super Junior has covered quite a few song in their albums. Their debut single "TWINS (Knock Out)" is a cover of Triple Eight's "Knockout," which was released in 2003. While the musical style is mostly maintained as the original, "TWINS (Knock Out)" touches closer to rap rock, with quicker rap and more emphasis on the bass. In most of their covers, the original titles are kept. Examples include Cape's "L.O.V.E" and Exile's "Believe." However, most of these covers are re-arranged to different accompaniments, such as H.O.T's "Full of Happiness". Dance Style Super Junior are known for doing performances that are heavily centered around their choreography, and are acclaimed for their highly synchronized dances. The group's pre-debut performance was a hip hop dance and they have also joined B-boy battles and performances throughout their career. Their dance styles are widely termed as street dancing, with a majority of their choreography containing hip hop dance moves such as popping, waving, floating, and liquid dancing. Dances in the form of martial arts are widely used in their dance routines as both Han Geng and Sungmin are professionally trained in that area.Shindong was the main choreographer for "U" and for a majority of the group's other dance sequences. Eunhyuk choreographed the dance for "Boom Boom" and worked with the other members to create the dance choreography for "Don't Don" and "Marry U", both promotional singles for the group's second album. Sub-groups Since debut, SM Entertainment has created four subgroups for Super Junior. Every member was put into different subgroups excluding Kibum, due to his busy acting schedule. The intentions of the subgroups were part of SM's strategy to not limit Super Junior's activities,and the goal was to show that the group could accommodate different musical genres. However, this strategy was later challenged by critics, as it has influenced an overwhelming amount of music groups to create official and unofficial subgroups alike.SM announced that Super Junior will form more subgroups in the future, and possible focuses of these subgroups include a variety of genres such as rock and hip hop.Previous Super Junior subgroups will also return to the industry along with appearances of new subgroups. Super Junior- K.R.Y (See Super Junior- K.R.Y for more information) Super Junior-K.R.Y, established in November 2006, is a trio formed by Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, and Yesung. The company discovered that these three members developed a particular personal and subsequent fan-base that was separate from the rest of the group, and how they also had similar musical qualities. They therefore grouped these three members together to perform particular songs to target a more mature audience. Being amongst the most vocally powerful members of the group, Super Junior-K.R.Y are credited to singing mournful, R&B-style ballads, a style that has proven very popular in recent years although stagnation in the style's development is causing it to lose its once fresh evocative power. Super Junior-K.R.Y's first official performance was on November 5, 2006 on KBS's Music Bank, performing "The One I Love (한 사람만을)."74 They have participated in the original soundtrack of the tvN drama Hyena with a total of three tracks, including the main theme. The trio also contributed tracks in two additional original soundtracks, one track in both the soundtracks of Snow Flower and Billy Jean Look at Me. Unlike Super Junior's other sub-units, Super Junior-K.R.Y has not officially released a single or album, and only participated in collaboration albums and original soundtracks. However, a new album is expected from K.R.Y in the future. Super Junior- T (Trot) (See Super Junior- T for more details) Super Junior-Trot (Korean: 슈퍼주니어-트로트), officially known as Super Junior-T (Korean: 슈퍼주니어-티) is the second official sub-unit of Korean boy band Super Junior. They are the first idol group known for capitalizing trot music, the oldest form of Korean pop music. Super Junior-T contains six Super Junior members, Leeteuk (the leader), Heechul, Kang-in, Shindong, Sungmin, and Eunhyuk. Super Junior-T has released only one single in the short span of their career before they were announced to be on hiatus in 2008. The single "Rokuko" was Korea's sixteenth best-selling record and the number one best-selling single of 2007, according to the Music Industry Association of Korea.In November 2008, the subgroup returned with a debut in the Japanese music industry, releasing the Japanese version of "Rokuko." Super Junior- M (See Super Junior- M for more information) Super Junior-M, often referred to as SJ-M, is the third official sub-unit of Korean boy band Super Junior. They are the first international music group in the Chinese music industry to have members of both Chinese and Korean descent,and are also the first group produced by Korea's CT (Culture Technology) organization, created through a comprehensive localization strategy.Super Junior-M consists of Super Junior members Siwon, Donghae, Han Geng, Ryeowook, Kyuhyun, Henry, and Zhou Mi. Henry and Zhou Mi are not considered true Super Junior Members. Super Junior- Happy (See Super Junior- Happy for more information) Super Junior-Happy (Korean: 슈퍼주니어-해피), sometimes referred to as SJ-Happy or Suju-Happy (Korean: 슈주-해피), is the fourth official sub-unit of Korean boy band Super Junior. Super Junior-Happy contains six Super Junior members, Leeteuk (the leader), Yesung, Kang-in, Shindong, Sungmin, and Eunhyuk. Discography Super Junior CH-China, JP-Japan, SK-South Korea, TH-Thailand, TW-Taiwan Studio Albums Singles Live Albums Soundtrack Contributions Other Discography Apperances in other Albums Singles Albums Super Junior K.R.Y The following are music records released and credited under the name Super Junior-K.R.Y., the first official sub-unit of Super Junior. Established in November 2006, K.R.Y. consists of Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, and Yesung. The trio specializes in a style of tragic ballad singing. Soundtrack Contributions Super Junior- T The following are music records released and credited under the name Super Junior-T, the second official sub-unit of Super Junior. Established in February 2007, T consists of Leeteuk, Heechul, Kang-In, Shindong, Sungmin, and Eunhyuk. The group specializes in modernized trot music. Singles Super Junior- M The following are music records released and credited under the name Super Junior-M, the third official sub-unit of Super Junior. Established in April 2008, M consists of Han Geng, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook, Kyuhyun, and two non-Super Junior members, Henry and Zhou Mi. The group is seen as the Chinese version of Super Junior, singing the majority of their songs in Mandarin. Studio Albums Super Junior- Happy The following are music records released and credited under the name Super Junior-Happy, the fourth official sub-unit of Super Junior. Established in June 2008, Happy consists of Leeteuk, Yesung, Kang-in, Shindong, Sungmin, and Eunhyuk. The group specializes in cheerful teen pop and bubblegum pop. Filmography LT-Leeteuk, HC-Kim Heechul, HG- Han Geng, YS- Yesung, KI- Kang-In, SD-Shindong, SM- Sungmin, EH-Eunhyuk, DH-Donghae, SW-Choi Siwon, RW-Ryeowook, KB-Kim Kibum, KH-Kyuhyun Master of Ceremonies (MC) Radio Shows Variety Show Hostings Television Shows Television Series Films Videography Music Videos Super Junior Super Junior K.R.Y Super Junior T Super Junior M Super Junior Happy Collaboration Music Videos Featured Music Videos Apperances Influence And Impact During the course of Super Junior's career, several pop groups were formed with similarly extraordinary numbers of members. JYP Entertainment recruited thirteen boys to be in a boy band, who were all revealed in the show, Hot Blood Men. Of these thirteen, eleven were split into two groups that debuted at different times: 2AM, which has four members, and 2PM, which has seven.Together, the two groups form the eleven-member boy band One Day. Ast'1, a boy band under DSP Entertainment, released a promotional video in March 2008. In the short preview the boy band expressed that they would "Knock Down Super Junior", which resulted in a lot of criticism lashed into the group. However, they clarified that they had no means to create conflict, and explained the reason why they want to defeat Super Junior is because they see Super Junior as their answer of success. Endorsements Super Junior members first began endorsing for various fashion lines in early 2006, notably for Ivy Club (2006–2007) and Spris (2006–2007). With their high popularity in Thailand, Siwon was contracted to be the main endorser for 12 Plus and began endorsing its products since 2007 with interchangeable Super Junior members. The group are also known for their string of humorous commercials for Thailand's Yamaha Fino along with several other Thai entertainers, notably Golf & Mike. Super Junior were also appointed as the Goodwill ambassadors for the 2008 Korea and Thailand 50th Anniversary, honoring the good relationship Korea has held with Thailand for the past fifty years.Most recently in 2009, Super Junior have filmed CFs for brands such as Kyochon Chicken, Star Snacks and Happy Bubble. Controversies Expansion to China After the subgroups Super Junior-K.R.Y. and Super Junior-T, on October 2, 2007, SM Entertainment announced the birth of another Super Junior sub-unit project that would begin activities in China starting 2008. Han Geng and SM Entertainment's new Chinese-Canadian trainee Henry Lau, who was also featured in the music video of "Don't Don", were said to be two of the core members for the subgroup. The announcement brought in a huge wave of dissatisfaction and opposition from fans of Super Junior after the announcement of two new members. Initially, fans were planning to boycott the company's products, however, most fans agreed on a silent protest instead. Thousands of fans from Super Junior's official fanclub E.L.F. silently sat in front of the SM building and held signs that supported the group to have only thirteen members. After more rumors regarding adding a Chinese member to the subgroup, the fans decided to gain a legal representation as part of SM Entertainment's stockholders. As of March 20, 2008, Super Junior fans purchased 58,206 stocks of SM Entertainment, holding 0.3% of the company's entire stock.They released a statement that they will obtain all chances to prevent SM Entertainment from adding new members and to keep Super Junior as only thirteen. MBC Conflict A time-slot dispute occurred between SM Entertainment and MBC when SM insisted to have Kang-in stay on SBS's Explorers of the Human Body instead of MBC's Sunday Night Dong-An Club (동안클럽) where Kang-in has been a regular host. MBC temporarily banned the rest of Super Junior from appearing in any future performances and shows hosted by MBC.Kang-in also lost his MC jobs to T.O.P. of Big Bang for the music show, Show! Music Core and also two more variety shows, which both soon canceled after Kang-in left due to low ratings.MBC demanded an apology from SM Entertainment in order for Super Junior to appear on shows hosted by the channel again. However, MBC concluded that Super Junior's ban was never official, but just a decision for shows' producers to decide. Conflict During Expo 2010 On May 26, 2010, organized by South Korea Pavilion of Expo 2010, many Korean pop stars including Super Junior were invited to the "South Korean classical and pop concert”which was planned to be launched at Expo Cultural Centre on May 30. As the tickets were not for sale to the public, visitors who want to enjoy the show could only exchange the ticket via expo ticket in the west door of the Expo Cultural Centre on May 30. The total ticket number is 5000, while 2500 of which would be assigned to Korea visitors for free which caused the actual avaliable number to be 2500. Super Junior fans collected in the entry of the Expo Cultural Centre, and the strong emotion led to the occurrence of violence, resulting in casualties. An local armed police said that this is his first time to see such a “crazy” situation in Expo 2010 since the Expo park was opened. Trivia *Super Junior has a fanclub known as ELF. ELF Stands for EverLasting Friends * On April 19, 2007, Kyuhyun, who was sitting behind the driver's seat when the accident occurred, was severely injured with a fractured hip, pneumothorax from broken ribs, and deep scratches and bruises. Kyuhyun was slipping in and out of consciousness for the next few days after the accident occurred.Besides Kyuhyun, Leeteuk, Eunhyuk, Shindong, and two of their managers were also in the accident. The accident occurred when they were commuting back to their apartment after Kiss the Radio (SuKiRa) in Kangta's van and not their own. Leeteuk had severe scratches on his back and face, and had to receive a total of 170 stitches. Kyuhyun was released later on July 5, 2007, but didn't fully recover until February 2008. The other two, Eunhyuk and Shindong, suffered only minor injuries. Category:Korean Bands Category:Boy Bands